Giving Circle

Project People Foundation (PPF) is pleased to announce that our mission of supporting education and economic development for women and youth in Africa has returned to the U.S. After 22 successful years in southern Africa, the PPF board recognized the urgency of doing this work locally and has launched the PPF Giving Circle. We are committed to following our mandate by investing in grassroots organizations in New York City that are aligned with our funding priorities.PPF's Giving Circle provides funds to organizations passing a rigorous evaluation process. In this pilot year, a total of $5000 in grants will be allocated in December 2017. We are reaching out to past supporters and potential new donors, hoping you will join us in this exciting venture.

Steps and Strides

PPF is excited to be partnering with the Ubuntu Education Fund to bring quality preschool to students in the townships of South Africa. Our "Steps and Strides" initiative helps provide school uniforms, daily transport and lunch, family support services and quarterly medical checkups.

Bundles of Brightness: Shining a Light in the Village

Bundles of Brightness is an interracial, interfaith initiative of Project People Foundation (PPF) and Innovation: Africa (IA). Its goal is to bring renewable energy, educational opportunity, and economic power to rural villages in Uganda and South Africa. Bundles of Brightness provides solar power to schools and “bundles of brightness” (school uniforms, school supplies, and solar lanterns) to children in village schools. The pilot project in Uganda was completed in 2012 and is currently being replicated in Limpopo, South Africa and Malwelwe, Bostwana. To date, over 1,000 “Bundles of Brightness” have been distributed to children in Southern Africa and PPF will not stop there. Our current goal is to distribute 1,500 more "Bundles" to children attending these schools next year.

Project Goals

Enable village children to study in evening hours and complete their homework with ease

Restore hope and enhance self-confidence within students now able to wear new school uniforms, often own their first pair of shoes, and have underwear.

Reduce the rates of school absenteeism and improve academic performance.

Free up family resources to supplement nutrition, buy school supplies and attend to healthcare.

The Uganda pilot focused on the Mugiti Primary School in Bwikomba I village in Budaka, Pallisa District. The Mugiti Primary School is seven kilometers away from the last electricity pole. The school currently educates 1,177 students (586 boys and 591 girls). Over 20% of these students are orphans. PPF’s role focused on providing bundles while Innovation: Africa focused on provision of a solar panel for the school and micro-enterprise for women through cell-phone charging stations. ​

"This project has not only helped the orphans who benefited from the Bundles kit but also the family and community at large in many different ways: Each student is now able to do his/her homework with ease now that there is a brighter light, without worries of the kerosene getting finished. The day is not ending with the setting in of the darkness; they now have extra hours to do schoolwork. The guardians of these children are able to save some money. The money which was used to buy kerosene is either used to supplement nutrition, by scholastic materials or take care of other pressing domestic problems like health. This project has made the orphans and vulnerable children have a sense of belonging and love. Most of these children are staying with paternal uncles and sometimes grandmothers. They are often looked at as a burden. This time, they are the source of light."

- Robert Bakalumpagi, Innovation: Africa in Uganda

"This is my first pair of shoes in my life."

- Sarah Kantono, 10 years old ​​

"I lost my parents 5 hard years ago; it has been so challenging for me as a young girl. I have been staying with my jaja (grandmother) since then... and as you may see the kind of life we are living in, we sometimes entered this house without any light except the fire on the firewood. I could not revise my books… When I brought the solar lantern home, my grand mother could not believe how much light we had that night. We had never seen a light so bright. Now I gladly revise my book… I put on the shoes the first day you gave them to me. I now have two dresses for the uniform from [originally having] nothing... Actually two days before you brought this dress, I had been told by the class teacher to come back home because I lacked a uniform. During my monthly periods, the first 3-days, I would dodge classes. Now I have two undergarments. THANK YOU."